Barrett Brown Fires His Gun - If only all of Rome had just one neck

We all know that YouTube is awash with videos of Americans firing guns.  Rednecks, chicks, gangstas, celebrities, pensioners, kids and even animals — they’re all at it.  

One of the videos Barrett Brown was indicted for in October 2012, shows him shooting clays, and carries the title: "If only all of Rome had just one neck".

Barrett posted a link to this clip a few times on Twitter, with the message: ‘Know how to shoot? You’ve got five years to learn, maybe less.’  Plenty Americans empathise with this.  What they want to say is that in their opinion, the North American landscape may soon resemble the version of it rendered in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

This belief does not exist on the fringes, or among arch pessimists, conspiracy theorists, because there are plenty mainstreamers that buy into this too.  There is little point in citing this tweet in any legal case against Barrett Brown, without dragging half of Louisiana into it too.  Like I say, YouTube is replete with vids of opinionated men and women letting off guns in much less controlled environments than Barrett’s shooting range.  

To Scottish people, all of this is faintly ridiculous.  On March 13th 1996 a gunman killed 16 children and one adult in a Scottish school and after that, everybody handed in their guns.  Americans say we’re saps, but we say we’re living in safer society.  Nothing similar has happened on Scottish soil since.

What is interesting is the American right to defend yourself against an imaginary enemy.  Barrett’s comment is only a prediction and like any other American he can determine who is enemy is before they’ve even done anything.  From some it’s the government, for others it’s aliens, for others its Mexicans, for others it’s their own neighbours.  For the government — it’s Barrett.  The enemies are real when they begin to shoot — but up until that point, you are only imagining them as the enemy.  Hence, Barrett’s catchphrase — Don’t Wait, Retaliate.

Every time some major shit goes down, whether it be 9/11 or Anders Brevik, we always hear afterwards that the authorities had prior notice.  I hope to hell this isn’t the logic behind busting this harmless journalist’s ribs.  This video, titled "If only all of Rome had just one neck" was used, Minority Report style, to predict (incorrectly) that Barrett Brown was an enemy of the state, and that he should be arrested.